News & Media

Empowering women farmers to end hunger and poverty

October 19, 2017

Elizabeth, a farmer from South Sudan. Photo: Tim Bierley/Oxfam

About 80 percent of the world’s food is produced by small-scale farming.

Women make up on average 43 percent of this agricultural labour in developing countries. They are the majority in some countries. In South Asia, more than two-thirds of employed women work in agriculture. In eastern Africa, over half of farmers are women.

Yet, they produce 20 to 30 percent less than men farmers because they face two compounding layers of exclusion – as smallholder farmers and as women.

Equalizing this gap could boost agricultural output and decrease global hunger by 17 percent.

Mary lives in Goziir, Northern Ghana with her husband and six family members. Mary has benefitted from Oxfam’s projects to help small-scale farmers increase their crop yields, build energy efficient stoves and have access to small loans.

Last year she doubled her maize harvest. Now she wants to share what she learnt at the farmer field school with other women in her community. They already pool their money in a savings group. By working together, they are fighting food shortages during the long hunger season in northern Ghana. (Photo: Adam Patterson/Oxfam)

Gender inequality in farming: the barriers holding women back

Agriculture is more likely than other sectors to provide diverse opportunities for empowering women. However, women farmers are held back by barriers that prevent them from feeding their families and reinvesting in their livelihoods. They face restrictions related to their gender while also experiencing the financial struggles shared by all small-scale farmers.

Women do not receive the same support as male farmers do. They have less access to land, loans and machinery.
Women are heavily involved in domestic activities including caring, cooking and cleaning, which remain hidden economically.
Women are disproportionately affected by climate change and face greater exposure to climate risks due to the same barriers that reduce their productivity.

Nurlina has been fishing since she was 12 years old. She learned how to fish from her uncle and became a fisherwoman to be able to provide for her mother and sibling. But in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, where fishing is usually done by men, she faced sexist comments and was stopped from being officially recognized as a fisherwoman.

But she didn’t give up. Now, with the help of local women’s rights organizations, Nurlina has equal rights with the fishermen – and she continues to fight for all women to have the same rights. “I told [the local government official], I can catch fish and steer a boat as well as the men. If you don’t believe me, you can take a ride with me.” (Photo: YKPM)

Supporting women farmers would help hundreds of millions fight hunger, poverty and climate change

Growth in small-scale agriculture is two to four times more effective at reducing hunger and poverty than any other sector, and women farmers are playing a central role. They produce a huge amount of food for their families and surrounding communities.

Yet, little action has been taken to ensure that they have the resources they need to improve their livelihoods, tackle food insecurity and build their communities’ resilience to climate change.

Governments must break down the barriers that are holding back women farmers and preventing them from accessing critical farming inputs. They must ensure women have secure land rights, and provide women with vital funding and support for farming and adapting to climate change.

Such support would protect their rights and boost their productivity. It would unleash the potential of hundreds of millions of women farmers to effectively reduce poverty and hunger.

Five women on the front lines of the fight against hunger

October 16, 2017

Women bear the brunt of the battle against hunger, but they’re also a powerful force capable of feeding their communities.

World Food Day is dedicated to raising awareness of hunger and working to ensure food security for all. This year, we’re shining a light on the women on the front lines of the battle against hunger in places like South Sudan and Ethiopia, where millions are at risk of starvation.

When hunger strikes, women are more likely to be affected. But women also have the power to overcome hunger and provide food for their families and communities. In fact, in sub-Saharan Africa, women are responsible for 50-75 percent of agricultural labour. They’re growing the food — but they’re often not getting the resources they need to really put an end to hunger.

Meet five women fighting hunger in their communities. Whether they’re growing food so their kids can eat or forming cooperative to bolster food production, they’re not backing down.

LINA, South Sudanese refugee

Lina is one of the one million refugees who have fled conflict and hunger in South Sudan and settled in Uganda. While she has found relative safety there, food has been hard to come by.

Lina lives at the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement, which opened in August 2016. Like many of her neighbours, she’s started to cultivate some land to grow food. Something has been pestering her corn patch, so she’s had to get innovative, sprinkling ash from her cooking fire to fight off the bugs. The corn will be an important supplement for her family of six, since food rations at the last distribution were cut in half.

KITABE, Ethiopia

Kitabe is a member of a cooperative organized by Oxfam and partners in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Through the project, she received a loan to improve her onion farm. She was scared and reluctant to join the project at first — because as a poor woman, her status in the community was low.

Now, she says, “The biggest thing I have learned is to be fearless, and I fear nothing now.”

“It’s much easier for men. They get up early, eat, and go to farm. They spend all day working on the farm or supervising. For me, it is double the job. I have to work on the farm and look after my family.”

Kitabe meets with other women in the community regularly to help deal with these issues. “We discuss our challenges, our work. We work together in groups. When I struggle to read all the women come to support me.”

ESTHER, South Sudanese refugee

Esther, a widowed mother of six, isn’t a farmer by profession. But she has to grow her own food to feed her family.

She fled from South Sudan to Uganda to escape conflict. Now in Bidi Bidi refugee settlement, she’s planted cucumbers, corn, pumpkins, peas, and herbs. “I planted because of hunger,” she says. “It’s not really enough.”

THERESIE, Rwanda

Theresie sells pineapples from her farm to Tuzamurane pineapple cooperative, which sits in a small village at the top of a hill in Kirehe, Rwanda. Fittingly, the name literally translates to “lift up one another.”

Since joining the cooperative, Theresie makes more money and is able to grow more food. She also feels like she has more of a voice in her own home.

“I would tell other women to come and join the co-operative and become pineapple farmers, that they shouldn’t be cultivating on their own, that they should work together with others in order to increase their production,” she says.

“What makes me proud is collaborating with my husband. In my point of view, happiness means feeling comfortable at home, getting advice from your husband and vice versa, understanding each other, and fairly enjoying your income.”

FLONIRA, Rwanda

Flonira lives in Musanze District, Northern Rwanda, where she is part of a tamarillo (tree tomato) cooperative.

“Women had no voice in this community,” explains Flonira. “They had no right to join other women.”

But that changed when the cooperative formed. “They [men] saw us being self-reliant – bringing home money, bringing sugar for porridge, they have really changed their mindset on women. The coop has changed women’s lives in this community.”

Delighted to have the support of 13-year-old Sophie!

October 5, 2017

Our Humanitarian Specialist, Darren Brunk, went along to Sophie’s school to receive her donation.

We are incredibly grateful to have the support of one of the coolest 13-year-olds out – Sophie Guerin. She sold hot drinks at her school in Wellington and raised a massive $627 which she chose to give to Oxfam. We can’t thank her enough for her support of those people who need it most.

Our Humanitarian Specialist, Darren Brunk, went along to Sophie’s school to receive the donation, and to have a chat with her:

How did you raise so much money?

I started fundraising at school every Wednesday at lunchtime, selling hot drinks. I was selling cordial for $1.50 and hot chocolate for $2. All the money was to go to Oxfam. I got my friends to help me. It was all student involvement.

Why did you choose to donate it to Oxfam?

I wanted a charity that would help lots of places around the world, and also one I could trust. I was looking at charities on the internet, and I found Oxfam and had heard of it before. I knew it was safe and it was what I wanted and so I decided to go with them.

What do you like about Oxfam?

I think it’s good because they focus on everything, they don’t just focus on one thing. They help lots of people in lots of places. They also help people start businesses.

What kind of change would you like your money to make in people’s lives?

I would want it to help people. When people have had troubles, such as becoming sick because they have had bad water, I want them now to have fresh water and food and to have business opportunities so that their lives can be better.

If you could change one thing about the world, what would you change?

I think I’d change… selfishness, so there wouldn’t be any selfishness so that everybody would always be looking out for each other. There wouldn’t be things like poverty and wars because people would care about each other.

Amazon’s prime tax deal: Luxembourg offered retailer massive unfair discount

October 5, 2017

Online retailer Amazon has received 250 million euros in illegal state aid from Luxembourg, the European Commission said today. This is the fifth high-profile decision on tax deals, like the one between the Irish government and Apple.

In response, Aurore Chardonnet, Oxfam EU policy advisor on inequality and tax, said:

“Governments are letting big business off the hook when it comes to paying the billions they owe in tax. This is unsustainable and unfair as taxes are required to fund public services like education and healthcare. When large companies, such as Amazon, don’t pay their fair share of tax, small businesses and citizens end up unjustly footing their bill.

“Some EU governments have secretive tax deals with multinationals and this needs to stop. Governments are meant to represent the interests of their citizens and not only those of corporations. It is also disappointing to see that the Irish government continues to delay collecting the billions in unpaid tax from Apple after their tax deal was exposed last year.

“Only tax transparency will allow citizens to hold decision-makers to account, expose companies’ potential wrong-doing and fix the tax system. In July, the European Parliament voted for rules for multinationals to automatically disclose where they generate their profits and where they pay their taxes. These should now swiftly be adopted.”

Notes to editors:

The European Commission launched its investigation into the tax schemes operated by Amazon in Luxembourg in October 2014. The company received significant tax reductions by the way of ‘tax rulings’ issued by Luxembourg authorities since 2003. The European Commission has also opened investigations into Luxembourg’s tax dealings with McDonald’s in December 2015, and with ENGIE in September 2016.
The decision on Amazon follows earlier Commission decisions on tax deals of by Ireland with Apple in September 2016 as well as the Netherlands with Starbucks and Luxembourg with Fiat in October 2015. In January 2016, the European Commission has also declared illegal selective tax advantages granted by Belgium under its “excess profit” tax scheme, which has benefitted at least 35 multinational companies.
According to the European Commission, tax rulings may involve state aid within the meaning of EU rules if they are used to provide selective advantages to a specific company or group of companies.
In December 2015, the EU adopted a directive aimed at improving the exchange of information on tax rulings given by member states to companies on advance cross-border tax rulings, as well as advance pricing arrangements. However, the public will not be allowed to access this information.
In July 2017, the European Parliament adopted legislation for so-called public country-by-country reporting, obliging companies to disclose information on profits made and taxes paid for each country they operate in. The Parliament and EU member states have now to agree on a final version of the legislation.
Oxfam America has published the report “Rigged Reform” in April, which exposes how the US’s 50 largest corporations relied on an opaque and secretive network of subsidiaries in tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

We’re still fighting for a Zero Carbon New Zealand

October 4, 2017

This was far from being the ‘boring election’ many thought it was going to be – and almost two weeks after the last vote was cast, its result is still uncertain.

We knew Oxfam’s election story was also going to be far from boring when we led a coalition of 15 aid agencies to campaign for all political parties to commit New Zealand to legally binding pollution reduction targets.

All these agencies have witnessed the number of climate-related humanitarian disasters more than double since 1980. This means that climate change has the potential to wind back development progress made over the last 60 years, creating havoc in developed and developing countries alike. After many years working in long-term development solutions and responding to humanitarian disasters in over 90 countries, all of us agree that this is one of the biggest development challenges of the 21st century.

You Backed the Plan

From secular to faith-based agencies, from Dargaville to Dunedin, the agencies – representing hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders with a variety of political views, but who are all equally concerned about the many problems our children will face in the near future due to climate change – all knew it wouldn’t be easy to bring climate change to the top of the political agenda. But with your help, we did it.

During the months leading up to the election, more than 5,000 New Zealanders got behind our campaign Back the Plan – Back to Zero and demanded a real climate commitment from all political parties. This led to a huge success as we secured a commitment from Labour, Greens and NZ First on legislation to reduce New Zealand’s pollution. But our work is far from finished.

Whatever the final election result is, we will continue to fight for a fairer, more just New Zealand.

Climate change is happening now and is affecting us all – our Pacific neighbours, our communities, our businesses and people living in poverty. We will continue to work with the newly elected government and hold it to account as we advocate for a cross-party agreement that puts the future of our children first: a Zero Carbon Act.

As the Electoral Commission is still counting the 380,000 special votes remaining, whatever the result, we will continue to call for our MPs to legislate a Zero Carbon Act and make New Zealand carbon-neutral by 2050.

Watch this space.

Unprecedented movement of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh leads to a humanitarian crisis

October 3, 2017

A young woman receives food aid at the Bulakhali camp in Bangladesh, where 13,500 people are seeking humanitarian assistance. Oxfam plans to assist more than 200,000 people with emergency support. Photo: AJM Zobaidur Rahman/Oxfam

Oxfam is responding with water, sanitation, and other essentials

Half a million people have arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar since August. This unprecedented influx of refugees in a short period of time has led to a large and escalating humanitarian crisis.

The camps are not equipped to handle the surge of people. More than 70 percent of the at least 501,000 refugees are without adequate shelter, and half of them have no safe drinking water. They are in need life-saving assistance including clean drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene, and essential food and emergency supplies.

Working with local partners NGO Forum for Public Health and Coast Trust, Oxfam has reached more than 100,000 people with clean drinking water, portable toilets and sanitation facilities, and food including rice, sugar, and fortified biscuits. We are also working with the government and other agencies to make sure that new refugee camps are designed to meet humanitarian standards.

Here, you can see the conditions in which refugees in Bangladesh are living.

Photo: Tommy Trenchard/Panos

Balukhali camp in southern Bangladesh is now home to thousands of refugees.

Photo: Tommy Trenchard/Panos

Men drill for water in Balukhali camp.

Photo: Aurélie Marrier d’Unienville

A group of girls collect drinking water for their families from a pump in Balhukali camp.

Photo: Aurélie Marrier d’Unienville

A father carries his son across a broken bamboo bridge at the edge of Balhukali camp in Bangladesh. Three days of heavy rains have flooded many of the areas where refugees had set up temporary shelters, forcing them to move to higher ground.

Photo: Aurélie Marrier d’Unienville

A Rohingya man carries a bag of food aid.

Photo: Oxfam

Mahmud, 65, is staying in a new settlement at Cox’s Bazar. He has been in Bangladesh for two weeks, but this is the first time he could use a latrine.

In total, we are planning to reach more than 200,000 people. To help us reach them, and other vulnerable people affected by disasters, please donate to our Disaster Response Fund today.

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